Editor

Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Melbourne, Ghent, London, Paris - which city does not belong in that list? The answer is: they all belong. Although Ghent may not be a world city, thanks to the coöperation between the Flanders International Filmfestival-Ghent and the province of East-Flanders ‘little’ Ghent (rather than Amsterdam) was granted the exclusive right to host the prestigious, world-renowned Stanley Kubrick Exhibition in the Benelux, following recent highly successful showings of the exhibition in Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Melbourne.

The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition is a result of the coordinated efforts of the Deutsches Filmmuseum (Frankfurt am Main), the Deutsches Architektur Museum (Frankfurt am Main), Stanley Kubrick’s widow Christiane, and the Stanley Kubrick Estate. Of the material provided on loan, 95% originates from the Stanley Kubrick Estate - the filmmaker’s personal working archive and one of the largest private archives in the history of film, which was acquired by the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt in 2003. The world première of the exhibition commenced in Frankfurt am Main on March 31, 2004. It was followed by an exhibition in Berlin from January 20 to April 18, 2005. The exhibition in Melbourne closed on January 29 of this year. The Provincial Council of East Flanders and the Flanders International Film Festival-Ghent joined hands to organise the Kubrick exhibition in Ghent at the Caermersklooster.

The Provincial Council and the Festival hope that the Kubrick exhibition in Ghent will be as successful as the exhibitions in Frankfurt, Berlin and Melbourne. In Frankfurt, 54,000 people visited the main exhibition or the film screenings in the peripheral programme. The exhibition in Berlin, which was prolonged due to its great success, drew 78,000 visitors. (No visitor figures have been announced yet for the recently completed exhibition in Melbourne.)

This is the first ever presentation of Kubrick’s entire output in a single exhibition, from his first short documentary Day of the Fight (1951) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999). A separate portion of the exhibition is devoted to each of his thirteen feature films. The themes of the exhibition arise from the central subjects of Kubrick’s films. His visionary adaptations of influences from the worlds of architecture, design and contemporary art form a central focus in the portions dedicated to 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange. The ‘ghost projects’ Napoleon and Aryan Papers, which were never actually made, are also documented extensively for the first time

The exhibition includes numerous audio and visual installations, because the combination of original items and background information, documents, sound and film fragments helps clarify the films for visitors. There are even film takes with Sue Lyon, the leading actress in Lolita, that have never been shown before. The initially controversial reception of Kubrick’s films and his experience with censorship are also described. The impact of music in Kubrick’s films is another theme of the exhibition. Finally, visitors can use computer screens to browse through exact reproductions of original archive material.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Thursday October 5, 2006 through Sunday January 7, 2007. The official opening will take place on Wednesday October 4, 2006 at 8 p.m. The opening will be attended by Mrs Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick’s regular producer Jan Harlan, and numerous other prominent guests. All available films made by Stanley Kubrick will be shown during the 33rd Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent (October 10-21). Followed by a film music concert in November focussing on the music Stanley Kubrick used in his films.

www.filmfestival.be/stanleykubrick